Soyuz capsule brings space station crew back to Earth

KOROLYOV, Russia – A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station (ISS) landed safely in Kazakhstan on Friday.

The Soyuz TMA-22 parachuted down onto the steppe in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, landing on schedule and on target north of the town of Arkalyk after a three-hour descent from the orbital outpost.

The cramped capsule brought veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin back to Earth after nearly six months aboard the ISS.

Speaking on NASA TV, a NASA spokesman at the site said it had been “one of the most pinpoint and precise landings” of a Soyuz returning from the station. (REUTERS)